Biohealth Innovation - 330th Edition

BioHealth Innovation

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November 20, 2018

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The BioHealth Innovation team would like to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving

A Win for the Region, A Win for Montgomery County

Today’s announcement that Amazon has selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia, as the locations for the company’s new headquarters is a win for Montgomery County. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in location.

Biobuzz Directory - NextCure Raises $93 Million Investment on Heels of Eli Lilly Immune-Oncology Deal

NextCure Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing the next generation of immunomedicines for cancer and other diseases, today announced the completion of a $93 million series B equity financing. The financing was led by Hillhouse Capital Management and Quan Capital, and included Bay City Capital, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Ping An Ventures, Taiho Ventures LLC, ArrowMark Partners and NS Investment. All existing investors also participated in this financing, including Canaan Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors LLC, Pfizer Inc., Sofinnova Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments. Additionally, Eli Lilly and Company invested $15 million in this financing in conjunction with the discovery and development partnership announced on November 5, 2018.

Arena Inks $1.2 Billion Deal With United Therapeutics - Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) | Seeking Alpha

Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) and United Therapeutics (UTHR) announced on Nov. 15 that the two companies have reached a deal on the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) drug Ralinepag. The $1.2 billion deal is the type of deal that many Arena investors have anticipated.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Announces Leadership Transition - Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to improve outcomes in cancers that are difficult to treat, today announced that Douglas J. Swirsky, who has served as Rexahn's president and chief financial officer since January 2018, has been named the company's president and chief executive officer and appointed to the company's board of directors effective immediately. Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D., chief executive officer, has departed the company and resigned as a member of its board of directors.

SERAXIS Inc. publishes clinical trial considerations for a type 1 diabetes stem cell-derived therapy

SERAXIS Inc., a rapidly growing regenerative medicine company today announced the publication of important trial considerations for SR-01, its pluripotent stem cell-derived islet therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes.

CRISPR, MaxCyte expand partnership into immuno-oncology - Pharmaceutical Business review

Gene editing company CRISPR Therapeutics and cell-based medicines and life sciences firm MaxCyte have expanded clinical and commercial license agreement into oncology.

Paragon Bioservices Named to Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™

Paragon Bioservices, Inc. (Paragon), the leading private equity-backed biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with proven expertise in gene therapy and next-generation vaccines, today announced it was named to Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™ for 2018, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America. Additionally, Paragon was named #8 to the Baltimore Business Journal's Fast 50 for the second year in a row.

Baltimore-based AsclepiX Therapeutics raises $5M - Technical.ly Baltimore

Johns Hopkins spinout AsclepiX Therapeutics raised $5 million in new funding that will assist in development of new treatment for eye diseases that are leading causes of blindness in adults.

IBBR investigator to lead $3.9M NIH-funded project to develop next generation HIV-1 immunotherapy agents

IBBR researchers recently received $3.9 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a multi-specific, single agent antibody therapeutic against HIV-1 to block virus infection and to clear the reservoir of HIV-infected cells from the body. Dr. Yuxing Li, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Fellow at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR), will lead the project, in collaboration with colleagues Dr. Qingsheng Li, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Dr. Keith Reeves, Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

D.C.’s original site competition - The Washington Post

Amazon announced its HQ2 decision last Tuesday, splitting the decision between Crystal City and New York. But an earlier competition to site the nation’s capital makes the HQ2 contest seem like a cakewalk.

5 Telehealth Insights from CMS' Seema Verma - HealthLeaders Media

Telehealth is changing the face of healthcare, and Medicare must adapt, said the CMS administrator.

Innovation is vital to the evolution and sustainability of the American healthcare system, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is working to be part of the transformation, according to its administrator.

TEDx Amplifies UMB’s Cutting-Edge Innovations - University of Maryland, Baltimore

The audience seated in an intimate ballroom at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) on Nov. 9 turned its attention to a small stage at the front of the room. The stage filled with red light as Nadine M. Finigan-Carr, PhD, MS, a research associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW), entered from behind a black curtain off to the right.

HISTORIC DAY: Virginia Tech Innovation Campus key to Virginia attracting Amazon HQ2 - Virginia Tech

Virginia emerged as a winner in the fierce, nationwide competition to house a headquarters for Amazon. The commonwealth stepped up with a standout higher education package, including a new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria, which will be located less than two miles from Amazon’s new location in Arlington.

The Squeeze Continues…Early Stage Health Tech Deal Volume Falls to New Lows - LinkedIn

Groundhog Day?

This month, Forbes reported that venture capital investments in healthcare startups hit record highs, despite the infamous dissolution of Theranos. While this implies it is still a buyer’s market, hundreds of quality early stage-health technology companies ready for funding are not securing investments. At Inova Personalized Health Accelerator (IPHA), we researched this trend in our Health Tech Early Stage Funding Report, which we published this month. As reported in VentureBeat earlier this year, Rick Gordon, director of IPHA, detailed a troubling trend at the pre-seed and seed stage investment level for health technology startups – early stage health technology investments are declining.

A Tale Of Two Cities: Amazon Picks NYC, Northern Virginia For New HQ

After a highly competitive site selection process that had communities across the U.S. touting their qualifications, Amazon has selected New York City and Arlington, VA, as the locations for the company’s new headquarters. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington. The new locations will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America.

3 Business Models That Could Bring Million-Dollar Cures to Everyone

When the FDA issued its first approval for a gene therapy for an inherited disease nearly a year ago—a cure for a type of blindness—it was heralded as breakthrough, a moment decades in the making. With dozens of other genetically engineered therapies moving through clinical trials, the long-promised era of personalized, gene-based medicine seemed to be at hand.

Biopharma needs a new R&D, innovation model - MedCity News

Leaders within the biopharma industry have long enjoyed the pride of knowing that their work improves millions of lives and offers great benefits to humanity. They share a collective sense of accomplishment around the eradication of diseases and improvement of daily living.

Google hires a health care CEO to organize its fragmented health initiatives - The Verge

Google has hired Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg to oversee its many health care initiatives, reporting to AI chief Jeff Dean and working closely with CEO Sundar Pichai to organize Google’s various health-related ventures.

What health IT needs to look like in 2019 to be successful - MedCity News

There’s no doubt that now is an exciting time for health IT. Many forward-thinking software companies are applying predictive models to create solutions that can improve hospital operations and clinical outcomes. As president and CMO of a Silicon Valley-based healthcare company using data science to improve core processes in healthcare operations, I believe there are a few major elements that health IT companies must incorporate as they continue to evolve to address the needs of our trillion-dollar healthcare system. Here’s what I believe needs to happen in 2019:

Opportunities in genomic testing and precision medicine - McKinsey

Advanced analysis of genomic data integrated with electronic medical records and other data sets, combined with effective reimbursement strategies and full data-regulatory compliance, will distinguish winning diagnostics companies.

Honest Tea Founder Seth Goldman Maintains His Thirst For Entrepreneurship

Seth Goldman was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, and throughout his life, he dreamed of ideas to pursue. That tendency was enhanced when he crossed paths with Yale School of Management Professor Barry Nalebuff while pursuing his graduate degree in business administration. The student impressed the professor with his insights, and his willingness to productively debate ideas in class. A couple of years after business school, Goldman went for a run in New York City, entered a convenience store, and despite his thirst, was not impressed by the usual suspect beverages on offer.